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Building Your Site’s Credibility and Trust in Five Simple Steps

In order to run a successful online business, you need to put as much effort as you can into every possible detail. The simple act of creating a website does not guarantee that you will actually make any money. There’s a lot of advice out there about improving websites and increasing conversions. To get off to the best start possible, you should check out the following five tips. They have been handpicked for their ability to produce the best results.

Poorly Written Content Scares Customers Away

The quality of the content on your site communicates a lot about the overall quality of your company. Customers are understandably suspicious of sites that include content that is riddled with misspellings and glaring grammatical errors.

In addition to being free of such errors, the content on your site needs to be engaging, convincing, informative and entertaining. It is well worth it to pay someone else to write exceptional content for your site if you are unable to produce it yourself.

Highlight Licenses and Bonds

If your business is licensed, bonded or insured, you should make that obvious on the main page of your website. People who are searching around for specific services are often aware of these types of things. To get licensed or bonded, a company has to undergo a rigorous screening or certification process.

After investing so much time in becoming licensed, bonded or insured, you should advertise that fact with pride. Whether you own a plumbing business or a lending company, highlighting your license or bond status is a smart thing to do.

Allow Customers to Create Accounts

Although it requires a little more work and maintenance on your end, it’s well worth it to allow customers to create accounts on your site. They’re more likely to return to make additional purchases if they know they won’t have to input all of the same information again.

Take advantage of easy account creation options that allow people to import information directly from services like Facebook and Google.

Be Transparent about the Checkout Process

You don’t have to scare them away by warning them about the long, involved checkout process, but you shouldn’t brag about how easy it is and trick them. Doing that is sure to backfire, and many customers will leave without completing their purchases.

Add Security and Trust Badges to Your Site

Online shoppers are savvier than ever. Many of them immediately look for common trust and security badges to determine whether or not they should do business with a company. For example, a prominent Better Business Bureau badge that advertises an A+ rating inspires a great deal of confidence. A badge that confirms your identity is useful too, and a Verisign badge is a prime example. It shows customers that you are not an impostor and that they can trust you with their sensitive financial information.

As you can see, it isn’t necessarily complicated to improve customer trust and increase conversions. The best rule of thumb is to always put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Would you feel comfortable doing business with your own site? The answer to that question will reveal a lot about the overall quality of your online business.

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